Christmas Gift
by naruto004
Summary: after becomeing ill in an accident naruto must take care of sakura in a cabin to nurse her back to health in this christmas time story. narusaku
1. The Accident

Walking along a snowy path, Naruto looked up to the sky above him. It was a grey winters day, those kind that you had no other choice but to curl up in a blanket, have a fire, and make some tea. Unfortunaly that couldn't happen today.

Beside him, he saw Sakura gripping her right arm.

"Sakura-chan are you sure your going to be ok?" Asked Naruto

"y-ya...it's just a flesh wound from a shuriken..i'll be fine," she answered.

They had just completed a C rank mission and were walking back from the hidden village of ice towards Konoha. They were to deliver a message to the fire embassy in the ice village. It wasn't a dangerous mission but there was the possibility of rogue ninjas so it was deamed suitible for two chuunins, and thus Naruto and Sakura were chosin.

Naruto, trying to get her mind off the pain, changed the subject.

"Hey Sakura-chan...," he said

"What?"

"Do you realize that in just under a week it will be Christmas?"he asked, even though he already knew she did.

Suddenly Sakura's face lighted up and she grew an excited smile.

"Ya I can't wait! Each year my dad and I decorate the tree and house with those cornny Christmas crafts we made in preschool. Then my mother and I would make shortbread cookies and decorate them. We would have so much fun spending Christmas together, and..." she stopped

She looked across to Naruto. His head was drooped and his pace slowed, he had an almost expressionless face except for the loss of altitude in his no longer existing smile.

"Oh...N-Naruto...I'm so sorry...I just forgot tha..."

He interupted her, "It's ok...I'm used to bieng alone this time of year." He then faked a very believeable smile. It would have fooled even those close to him, everyone except the one closest to him - Sakura

The wind was picking up and the snow was getting heavier. Sakura was worried

"Naruto," she said. "I think we should set up camp here. It's the end of the forest and the field of snow up ahead goes on for a couple miles, and we need the trees for shelter in case there's a storm."

"Uh...ya i was gonna say that to," he lied

They set up their tents and got to work making a fire. they were fairly big tents, enough to easily fit two even though they each had there own.

By the time they were finished supper the storm they had expected was in full force. The snow became very heavy that it was impossible to stay outside and keep the fire alive so the two decided to retire to their tents.

Sakura slipped into her cozy sleeping bag and tried to get to sleep. But alas, she could not she layed there wide awake. She thought about her family, how they were probably getting the tree ready, sending gifts away, and getting their special Christmas sweaters out of the box in the basement.

"I miss home," she whispered so quietly she couldn't here it for herself. She suddenly felt cold. She missed her mom's hugs. She started feeling homesick and lonely. She could see the eerie silhouette of the leaveless trees through her tent, and could hear the howling wind outside, the snow hitting her tent. She pulled the quilt up to her nose.

Naruto awoke to the sound of the zipper of his tent comming down slowly he jumped into a crouch and grabbed his kunai just like he'd practiced in the academy he tensed his leg muscles, ready to pounce when he saw the attacker's face, he could feel the blood rushing through them.

Sakura poked her head into his warm tent. Naruto relaxed and put down his weapon.

"Oh..Sakura it's only you...is something wrong?" he asked.

"No," she replied." I was just wondering...could I come sleep with you in your tent?

Naruto's face turned beet red.

"Well?" she asked.

"Oh...uh...ya I guess..." he replied.

Sakura unraveled her sleeping bag next to his, got in and fell asleep instantly. Naruto's mind became a whirl of thought. This was just like fantasy #34 he had thought up a while ago when he was absolutely crazy for her, Soon after a while of no progress with her he had to come to his senses and realize that it would never work between them , he had to keep telling him self that for about a year and finally his feelings died down.

But now with what had just had happend, Naruto had to keep telling himself that to keep his feelings at bay it was the only way he would fall asleep knowing that the apple of his eyes was sleeping next to him.

The next morning there was a foot of fresh snow on the ground. They packed up their things and headed towards the sheet of white that stretched on for miles. They still had a full day of walking in order to reach home so they had to keep up a fast pace to get them home before night the next day.

Naruto didn't bother asking about what had happened the night before because he knew he wouldn't get the truth.

About an hour into their trip they heard a large crack. They both looked at each other not knowing what to think. When they did they noticed that both of them were covered in snow and forming ice on their jackets. That was when they realized how cold they both were.

"We should keep going to keep our body temperatures up," said Naruto.

"Finally something smart out of you," she giggled. with that she took a step foreward, only to have the ground crumble under her foot. The crumbleing spread out in a circle under them both. Then it gave way, plunging them both into deep icy water. Their heads went under the surface and after a few seconds they re-appeared.

"Sakura!" he yelled.

"Naruto!" she shouted. We need to get out of the water, we must be on a frozen lake!

They both tried to swim to the sides of the ice but found it very hard because of cold shock and freezing muscles. it took them almost half a minute to get out. When they did they were both shaking and soaking wet which with the bitter wind would turn to ice in no time.

"Naruto...(puff)...are you...(puff)...ok?" she tiredly asked.

"Well...(puff)...for now...(puff)," he replied."You?"

"I don't...(puff)... know I feel...(puff)...ki...nda...,"she collapsed.

"Sakura-chan!" he shouted. He rushed over to her side. She was still breathing but unconsious.

"If I don't get you some warmth soon you'll die from hypothermia," he said incase she could here him.

He picked her up, her soft skin cold to the touch, and put her around his back like they did when they were young and Naruto would give Sakura a piggy back ride around the village. But unlike then this was serious not playtime and this time naruto had to play as a hero.

Naruto had been carrying her for about half an hour. His clothes completly frozen, his lips blue. But never once did his state cross his mind. All he could think of was protecting Sakura, getting her to warmth so she could live. he didn't care if he died in the process.

He had been carrying her for about three hours now and had walked almost 5 miles, although now he was walking at the speed of a slug, barely moving. the snow was like a blanket covering the sky and it had blurred vision like fog nothing to be seen but white and grey. that was all he could see.

Then suddenly something blurry appeared far ahead, it was unidentifieable, just a brown speck.

"(Maybe i'm going crazy from the cold.)," he thought. "(But if I want Sakura to live I have no other choice but to check it out.),"

He got closer and closer to the brown speck and it came more into view. Naruto stopped, managed to smile, and ran. he ran until he reached his goal.

"A cabin!," he roughly whispered.

He pushed open the door and closed it behind him. The cabin was clearly abandoned because of the dust and cobwebs. There was a couch near the door which Naruto gingerly layed Sakura down upon. There was a fireplace across from the couch, this was good he could make a fire and nurse Sakura back to health.

He took a couple of logs out of the bin and managed to make a small fire, he then took Sakura's sleeping bag and sprawled it out across the floor so he could put her in it and get warmed. he then turned to Sakura and realized something, his eyes wide open. He realized he had to get Sakura into dry clothes and to do that...he would have to take her wet clothes...off.

Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and prepared for what he had to do. In any other situation this would have been a dream come true, but he knew she would wake up and wonder how she got into pajamas and then Naruto would have to explain. the only thing that made him able to do it was the fact that he could say it was a life saving job

He got her into her pajamas never once opening his eyes, at least he could use that in his defence. After that he searched the rest of the house.

The small cabin didn't have electricity but it did have lots of candles that would need to be lit in a couple of hours to bring light to the cabin. In the bedroom he found a heavy blanket which he put on Sakura for extra warmth. There was a big propane tank outside so the stove worked.

Naruto made some tea with the bags he found in the cuboards. There was also many jars of preserves so food wasn't a problem.

He brought the tea over to Sakura who was looking much better, the colour was returning to her soft cheeks and her pulse and breathing returned to a normal rate. He sat there admiring her for some time before he relized the tea was getting cold.

He propped her head up and poured the warm liquid into her throut, she didn't cough it up, that was a good sign.

For three days sakura slept by the fire and naruto kept making her tea, switching the washcloth on her head, and changeing the bandage on her arm.

Sakura slowly opened her eyes, her vision blurred. she saw the fire to her right. the last thing she remembered was swimming out of the icy water.

She sat up and looked around,the fire was making her cheeks rosy.

"Hello sleepyhead," said a voice behind her.

She darted to look back, and saw Naruto.

"Here," he said as he handed her some warm soup. She cupped her hands and took it in confusion.

"Thanks," she said, takeing small sips. "Soooo...where are we?"

"Well, you went unconcious from the cold and i carried you for hours until I found this abandoed cabin," he replied. Sakura looked at him with sleepy suprise.

"If you need anything just ask and i'll be there," he announced.

"Hey Naruto..." she said. " Thanks for saveing and takeing care of me...you really must care about me,"

"Well your a really good friend of mine and I don't want to lose you," he said as he headed toward the bedroom.

"Oh and Naruto..."

"Hmm?"

"How The Hell Did I Get In My Pajamas!!"


	2. Nurse Naruto

Although Sakura was now awake she still wasn't capable of fending for herself. This was because her body was so weak from fighting the cold, keeping herself breathing and slowly pushing blood throughout the body. Normaly that would be no problem but the cold made blood travel almost impossisble resulting in immobility.

"Don't move Sakura you can hardly use your muscles," he said. "I'm going to go get some firewood from the forest nearby before it gets dark."

Naruto left and closed the door behind him. Sakura was mildly shocked at how this 13 year old boy she had always that was incompitant managed to revive her and take care of her. To her, Naruto had always been a good friend to her, he was there for the good times, and he was there for the bad times as a shoulder to cry on. She felt warm all of a sudden, and it wasn't because of the fire.

Naruto came back with an arm full of wood and put it in the bin. He turned to find Sakura undoing her bandage around her arm

"It needs to be changed, I'll get it," she said.

Naruto grabbed her hand and gently took the bandage. He looked directly into her gleaming green orbs with his blue ocean eyes.

"I don't want you lifting a finger until you get better," he said softly and went to go get the new bandages.

Sakura was speechless, her heart pounding, eyes wide open from the way he looked at her. Like he was looking into her soul.

Naruto had re-bandaged her wound. He then made some tea and handed it to Sakura, something was on his mind.

"Hey Sakura...can I ask you something?" he asked in a low voice.

Her eyes narrowed, (he wasn't going to ask _that, _was he?) she thought.

"Y-Ya..." she replied.

"What is it about Sasuke that you find so attractive?

Sakura relaxed. "Well I guess It's because...he looks really cool and...the way he acts I guess," she answered.

"The way he acts? but Sasuke acts like a jerk. He doesn't care about anyone who isn't as good as him," he said. Naruto let out a joking sigh,"I guess I'll never understand you girls."

Sakura giggled

"Anyway, What do you want for dinner?"he asked, changing the subject.

"What do you have?"she asked.

"Not much, there's...peaches, strawberries, corn, beans..." he went on.

"I guess i'll take...some corn with...some beans," she ordered.

Naruto quickly put their meals together and ate by the fire with Sakura. He handed her the meal and she quickly devoured it, not realizing how hungry she was.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"That's ok," he replied. "To me that says that i'm a good chef!"

She laughed. They stayed up for a couple of hours talking and playing cards that Naruto had found in a drawer. They then decided it was time for bed.

"Sakura-chan you can sleep on the bed" Naruto said.

"But where will you sleep?" she asked.

"I'll be fine on the couch, besides you need the rest more than I do."

"Oh, well ok...thank you," and she went into the bedroom.

Sakura layed wide awake in her bed. She couldn't figure out why she couldn't get to sleep. It wasn't because she had slept earlier because she _was _tired. Perhaps it was because she couldn't stop thinking about what Naruto had said about Sasuke earlier. Was it true that Sasuke was a smug jerk who didn't care about anyone beneath him? Was she so shallow that she didn't care if he treated her like crap, aslong as he was cool looking?

She turned over to her side. How come she hadn't seen it before? Maybe Naruto had been right about him. It was then she had to ask herself an important question. Would Sasuke be the one who would be there for her when she needed someone to talk to, to comfort her in times of sorrow, or listen to her when she was outraged?

She had a crush on him since the academy days, and now thinking about it, she didn't know why, and..-

Her train of thought was broken by her door opening. Naruto poked his head into the room.

"Oh, Sakura-chan, you're still awake," he whispered. "I was just checking on you to make sure you're ok."

"Uh...ya I'm fine," she whispered back.

Naruto smiled. "Good," and he closed the door behind him.

Sakura grew a smile, and fell asleep instantly.

The next morning Sakura woke up to the smell of cinnammon. She got out of bed and found it a bit easier to walk but still had to limp a little. She had had a good, much needed rest, she remembered that Naruto had come in to check on her last night. Sakura thought it was so nice of him to take such good care of her. Her heart felt warm. She had noticed that she felt good everytime she thought of him lately. Her thoughts wandered.

Sakura opened the door and walked into the kitchen. She saw Naruto at the stove heating up some water. She felt warm again

"Oh, Sakura-chan you're just in time for Breakfest," Naruto beamed. He poured water into two mugs.

His upbeat spirit made Sakura happy. "Great what are we haveing," she asked.

Naruto brought over two bowls and the mugs. "I made cinnammon-spice tea and cinnammon apple sauce," he declaired. Sakura took a bite of the apple sauce.

"Oh my gosh this is delicious Naruto-kun!" she exclaimed. She continued to eat.

"Thank you, and i've got some good news, if we leave tommorow we can get back to the village just in time for Christmas eve," he said. "You can still do all the things you wanted to

Sakura's face lit up, she had longed for the comfort of her mother and her own home. She finished her breakfest and Naruto picked up their dishes and cleaned them. Sakura walked across the creaky cabin floor. She still couldn't believe how nice Naruto was bieng to her after she had treated him so badly around Sasuke, somehow trying to impress him.

Then Sakura realized that it was Christmas Eve tommorow, and she had nothing to give her parents! What could she possibly give them when she was trapped in a cabin. She could maybe take something from the cabin, but there wasn't anything they would want. Her eyes then focused on the wood bin and she got an idea.

"Hey Naruto is there any syrup in the cuboards?" she asked.

"Uh...I think I saw some behind the flour," he reached in and pulled out a bottle of syrup. "Why."

"I'm making a present for my parents," and she took the bottle and got some scrap wood from the bin. Perhaps she would get a present for Naruto when they got back.

While Sakura worked on her present, weaving and glueing wood together with syrup, Naruto made her bed and cleaned the kitchen, he had never done this much house work before. It was getting close to sunset and Sakura had finally finished her present. It was a dark board composed of small twigs with the the word _Harunos _spelled with yellow sticks on top.

"Wow Sakura-chan that looks great!" said Naruto.

"Well it's better than nothing," she replied

"I'm going to get some more wood incase we run out before tommorow," he said.

Sakura nodded. Sasuke had never been this nice to her, in fact he had nevever been nice to her at all. Perhaps there was more to feeling for someone than just good looks, she thought.

Naruto burst through the door with a small armfull of wood, he was covered with ice and snow.

"Naruto-kun what happened?" she asked.

"Sakura-chan...(puff)..there's a huge blizzard happening!"

"M-My god how long do you think it will last?"

"Well, I hate to say it but...it's going to last about two days,"

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "B-B-But that means we'll miss Christmas," her eyes began to water. "I won't get to spend Christmas with my family, and make cookies, and decorate the tree!" she felt a tear roll gracefully down her face.

A gental hand gripped her shoulder.

"I'm sorry Sakura," Naruto said softly.

"N-N-Naruto," she studdered

"But I promise you, I will make sure you get the Christmas you deserve," he proclaimed


	3. The Perfect Gift

Sakura _again, _layed in bed awake thinking about what Naruto had meant by "I'm going to make sure you get the Christmas you deserve." They couldn't go back to Konoha because of the weather, it would be to risky.

What she was more befummbled at was why whe felt a warm dizzyness when he had touched her shoulder to comfort her. The last time she had felt that way was when she had told Sasuke that she loved him. Did that mean that she was starting to have feelings for Naruto? A while ago that idea would have disgusted, but now, she didn't know.

Naruto had made it clear to her many times that he liked her, and she never returned his feelings. Lately she had noticed that Naruto had stopped trying to impress her, did that mean that he had given up on her? and why did it hurt her to think that?

Sakura's eyes widened, did she...love him?

oOo

The next morning Sakura sprang out of bed, she could fully walk again, plus it was Christmaas Eve. Then her heart sank into her stomach as reality caught up with her, all her plans for her perfect Christmas had been destroyed. She could almost see the rain cloud above her head. She slowly opened the door and walked into the main room of the cabin.

It was still farely early and she knew Naruto was a late sleeper, She expected to see him sprawled out on the couch. To her surprise he wasn't. He wasn't because he wasn't there. Where is he, she thought. there were only the main room and the bedroom in the cabin and he wasn't in either.

Surely he couldn't be outside in this weather.

But speak of the devil, Naruto burst open the door, shivering.

"Naruto are you crazy or just dumb! What were you doing out there?" She asked angerly.

"Ah Sakura-chan, I didn't think you'd be up yet," he said as he tried to free his frozen scarf from his coat. "Well I guess it's to late to try to surprise you now."

Sakura's curiosity spiked as Naruto disappeared behind the other side of the cabin wall. Moments later he returned, trying to fit a pine tree through the cabin door. Finally he managed to squeeze it through and stood it up beside the couch.

"Ta-Da!" he sang.

"Is that a Christmas tree?" she asked.

"We can't have Christmas without one," He told her, then in a low sincere voice he said, "Sakura, I told you I would give you the Christmas that you were dreaming of."

"Naruto..." she muttered. This had comfirmed it...after all this time she had finally realized who she really loved...Naruto.

"Well what are you waiting for?" he asked. "Grab your coat and lets go get some decorations."

oOo

Naruto and Sakura visualy scanned the forest floor looking for anything that seemed suitable to put on their tree. After about half an hour they exited the forest and began to walk back to their cabin. Sakura had an armfull of pinecones and Naruto carried a bag full of acorns.

Sakura looked over at Naruto who seemed to be caught up with trying to balance an acorn on his nose. She wanted to tell him so badly how she felt about him.

"H-Hey Naruto-kun, I need to tell you something..." she said queitly.

"Sorry Sakura-chan, but can you tell me when we get back, I'm getting close to my record and I need to concentrate," he replied, balancing the acorn.

Sakura giggled. "Ok."

oOo

They got back to the cabin just before lunch, and threw their collections on the couch.

"Hey Sakura do you want some lunch?" Naruto asked.

"Uh... sure I guess, thanks" she replied

In a mere 20 minutes Naruto had whipped up some hot soup for the two of them. They sat down in the stools by the countertop and began to eat.

"Hey Naruto..." she began. "I just wanted to thank you for everything you've done, you've clearly gotten more mature and I don't think you're _that _annoying anymore."

Naruto gave her his infamous grin and started to eat again.

They both finished and Naruto cleaned there bowls, he then turned on the stove and put a pot on. He went to the couch and got the acorns and put them in the pot.

"What are you doing," Sakura asked curiosly

"You'll see," he said while pressing the top firmly to the pot.

Suddenly a loud pop was heard, followed by another, and another, the rate sped up rapidly.

"What the heck are you doing over there Naruto?" she asked again, her impatience growing.

The speed of the pops slowed and Naruto turned off the stove. He brought the pot over to Sakura and lifted the lid in a presenting fashion.

Inside was a pot full of white popcorn, Sakura put one in her mouth,

"Eew this tastes terrible!" she half shouted.

"Good thing we're not going to eat it," he said, ignoring the fact that she called his cooking terrible.

"What?" she replied.

Naruto pulled a very long string out of the drawer beside him and started dropping popcorn down through the string.

Sakura finally realized what he was doing and started helping.

"Oh I get it you're making popcorn rope to wrap around our tree," had she just said 'our tree'.

They spent most of their afternoon poking popcorn and decorateing "their" tree. It was a nice tree, the popcorn rope was wraped around the tree in a decorative way going from top to bottom, there was also pine cones placed all around and a silver star on top that Naruto had made out of tinfoil. After it was done, Sakura became tired and fell asleep on the couch. Naruto placed a blanket on her to keep her warm and slipped queitly into the kitchen.

oOo

Sakura woke up to the smell of something cooking again. She didn't know what it was, but she realized that it was something she smelled every Christmas time. Was it turkey? No there wasn't any meat around. Squash maybe? Not that either, squash smelt bad, this was sweet and rich.

Thinking she would never figure it out, she rose and walked to the kitchen where she found Naruto standing above the oven . He obviously didn't realize she was there so she just stood there watching him, admireing him.

Ding!

Naruto opened the oven and took out the tray inside. He turned to put the tray onto the counter and nearly dropped the objects on the tray when he was startled to find Sakura there.

"Uh...Sakura-chan...you scared me!" he said as he handed a fresh baked cookie to her.

"Oh my gosh! Naruto are those shortbread cookies?" she happily asked.

"Yep, just like you said."

Sakura looked at him inquisitively, what was he talking about?

"Sakura you said there where 3 things that you did on Christmas Eve and i've done 2 of those things already. We decorated the tree"

"One," she counted.

"You've had shortbread cookies."

"Two, but what was the third one?"

"I was about to do that,"

The next thing she knew Naruto's arms were around her shoulders in a tight but gental embrace. She felt her whole face go red and she was sure she probably looked like a cherry. Her whole body felt invigorated with excitement and happiness. She wanted this moment to last all night but in a few short seconds Naruto whispered in her ear "Three- you've got your hug." He then pulled away and started putting cookies on a plate.

Sakura however was still lost in the moment. Her body felt cold, she longed to be in the fortress of his arms and feel warm again. She still felt the blush along her face.

It was night time and Naruto's eyes felt weary. He and Sakura were playing hangman on the couch and she had one the last round.

She looked at the tree admireing it's beuty, she then turned to Naruto, she saw his eye lids bob up and down slowly. It was then she decided to start where she had left off in the woods.

"Hey Naruto..." she started.

"...ya...?" he said tiredly.

"I just wanted to tell you something..." she looked at the ground as she spoke. "I know that I used to make fun of you at school and I wouldn't respect you like you deserve, but now that i've got to know you better, I feel like we've really bonded and well...I love you! I know it took me a while to realize it and i'm sorry, but now all I want is to be with you and well...I just wanted to..let you know that...Naruto?

She looked up to find Naruto in a deep sleep beside her. He didn't hear any of that! she felt like slugging him but she didn't. Instead she just smiled and whispered...

"Good night Naruto" and went to her bed

oOo

The next morning Sakura quickly got up and went into the main room. She walked in and saw Naruto sleeping on the couch. She grew a smile.

It was a sunny morning and the rays shined through the windows and highlighted Naruto's blond locks. They also made the star on top of the tree shine. She slowly looked down the tree seeing the popcorn and pinecones that dressed it.

Then something caught her eyes at the bottom. it was a small box with pink wrapping paper and had a neat little red bow on the top.

She read the tag: To- Sakura, From- Naruto.

"I see you found your present," she heard from behind her. She turned around to find Naruto siting on the couch smiling.

"Naruto how did you..." she started to ask.

"I got it at the Ice Village when we were leaveing, go on, open it," he ordered.

Sakura slowly tore away the paper to find a gold box. She gently opened the box. Inside was a silver necklace which had a medium sized piece of metal shaped like a diamond, in the middle was a pink gem that was surrounded by silver walls around it that had an elegent grouve all the way around.

Sakura looked at Naruto who was still grinning. She got up and sat beside him.

"Do you like it?" he asked.

"I- I love it, thank you so much," she answered

"Well you know I hate seeing you sad so I made sure you got the best Christmas ever, and I know that you desperitly wanted to spend it with your family so I just tried to do things that you would do with them, and I'm sorry."

Naruto it's ok stop beating yourself up. She didn't have a gift for him but she knew what would be just as good.

Naruto went on again. I know that I probably didn't do very good so I don't blame you if you say you don't like me."

Sakura leaned over to his face and kissed him on the cheek, she then whispered in his ear.

"I don't like you Naruto...I love you."

oOo

hope you all engoyed it please review and I'm going to take a week break before writeing the first chapter of my new story Discovering Each Other so look for it then.


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